


Sleeping Beauty.

by reidbyers



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: M/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-26
Updated: 2017-10-26
Packaged: 2019-01-23 16:41:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12511736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reidbyers/pseuds/reidbyers
Summary: Spencer enjoyed going on the subway for many reasons, it was peaceful, it aloud him to read without being bothered, but his favourite reason was the cute boy who always sat in front of him and despite never speaking to one another was the best part of his travels.





	Sleeping Beauty.

Spencer enjoyed going on the subway more than most, especially at night. It was for some reason extremely peaceful just to sit there and relax, there were never really that many people on there due to it being so late at night and it allowed him to catch up on all the books he hadn’t had the chance to read while at work or on a case. The soft humming of the lights passing by was also comforting, everything always felt different at night like the little things held a stronger meaning to those who couldn’t go to bed when the rest of the world did.

There was also another reason he enjoyed the subway and that was to do with the man who without fail was always sitting across from his favourite seat. He was interesting to watch but Spencer didn’t want to come off as creepy so he’d only sneak the occasional glance up from his book. The stranger was often either on his phone playing some game which clearly was annoying him and left him mumbling under his breath or he would be reading something, the last few trips it had been The Great Gatsby but before that it had been The Picture of Dorian Gray and so on and so forth. There had been many times Spencer wanted to pop in a fact about whatever book he was reading, just in case the stranger found it interesting but he’d never gotten the bravery to do so.

So, he’d keep to himself and keep his head buried in his own book. The journey back home was around half an hour which meant if he was reading at a slow leisurely pace he’d be able to finish at least one book in that time. Sometimes he’d get his notebook out and scribble down some notes on some cold cases he’d been trying to crack or he’d work on one of the letters he’d send his mom. Just anything to pass the time and distract him from the attractive stranger in front of him.

The case he’d just finished had been a particularly long one and after being away from home for a week all he wanted was the softness of his bed and his creature comforts, anything to help him work through all that frustration he felt. He yawned as he collected his ticket, picking up his to go bag and then trudging over to the turnstiles where he swiped his card and quickly made his way through as usual. He’d been travelling on the subway so often since he joined the BAU that years on he had finally managed to perfect arriving just on time so that the train pulled up just as he arrived on his station.

After the doors slid open Spencer wrestled with his bags and the coffee in his hand while he tried to get onto the train, trying not to accidentally spill a scalding hot mocha down himself; usually he went for just black coffee with a heaping ton of sugar but his sweet tooth was running rampant that day and he decided to switch it up. There was no one else on the platform which meant he was the only one being picked up, when he looked around the train he noticed that there were only two people on there. One was an old lady who was fast asleep with her head tilted back and the other was the cute stranger, playing Candy Crush on his phone and obviously losing.

The stranger looked up at Spencer when he saw him sit down in front of him and smiled, he had a face that just radiated kindness and warmth and Spencer had to remind himself to smile back instead of getting distracted by how cute he looked with his glasses perched on top of his head. It wasn’t unusual for Spencer to find people attractive, much to other people’s shock perhaps. Just because he didn’t talk about having crushes on people or expressing his interest didn’t mean he didn’t feel anything at all, he could acknowledge someone who was attractive just like everyone else could; he probably wouldn’t tell them though.

Spencer sat down on his usual seat after laying his to go bag on the floor and then taking his satchel off so it wasn’t in his way, all while still trying not to drop his coffee. If he had been paying attention he would have noticed how that stranger he thought was cute was just thinking the exact same thing about him as he watched him wrestle his bag once again.

Alfie had noticed Spencer long before Spencer had became aware of him, he’d been taking the subway for around a year now as his job entailed him to work between nine and midnight and there was no way he was about to walk home in the dark. So the subway was his best option and it turned out to be exactly that when he saw the handsome doctor get on for the first time. The only reason he knew Spencer was a doctor was because of that one time he had answered a phone call as such and it also happened to be the first time Alfie heard his voice and his heart almost jumped out of his chest.

They’d never talked before so neither knew anything about the other but Alfie was able to work out some things, Spencer worked for the government in some kind of capacity due to all the files he had with them and although he felt a bit like a stalker for doing so Alfie had gone home that night and had to look up what on earth “BAU” stood for as it was printed on the files. When he learnt that it was apart of the FBI he was more than a little shocked, it wasn’t that he didn’t expected Spencer to be able to do something like that because he knew nothing about the guy but with his mismatched socks and Doctor Who key chain, his tie which was more times crooked than it was not - he just looked more like a school teacher than FBI agent. After that he did no more research, it was definitely weird and felt a little too much like stalking.

Spencer however didn’t even know Alfie’s name, all he knew was his addiction to puzzle games on his phone and good taste in books and that was about it. Also that he liked hot chocolate with lots of whipped cream, marshmallows and chocolate sprinkles but that was because a one time occurrence around Christmas time and Spencer had to work so hard to stop himself from smiling when he peaked up from over his book and saw Alfie with whipped cream on his nose.

It had been a long day and Spencer didn’t know if he got concentrate on his book, he pulled it out of his bag anyways but didn’t even bother to open it up. Instead he found himself trying to get into the most comfortable position without drawing too much attention to himself. If he had been smaller it might had been easier but since he wasn’t he just had to work with what he had and that meant awkwardly crossing his legs and resting his head back against the seat. Usually he wouldn’t have done so because of the likeness of germs being there but right then Spencer was too sleepy to give a damn.

The train began to pull away and Alfie looked up from his phone after failing the level once again, his eyes fell upon Spencer who was somewhat curled up on his seat. His eyes were closed and there was an air of peacefulness about him, Alfie was terrified that at any moment Spencer would open his eyes again and catch him staring but it didn’t deter him from still doing so. He quickly looked at the old lady to make sure she was asleep before reaching up and removing his glasses only to them push them up his nose; the last thing he wanted was for someone to catch him putting his glasses on just so he could look at this very, very cute stranger.

Alfie didn’t even know if Spencer liked guys, for all he knew he could have a girlfriend at home waiting for him and that only made him feel worse for this crush building up within him. He too was tired but he decided not to take a nap because then everyone would end up missing their stop and that didn’t seem like the best way to get on someone’s good side. So for his sake and Spencer he went back to looking down at his phone, hoping that the bright screen would keep him awake, or at least his frustration would for the damn level he couldn’t beat.

He occasionally looked up at Spencer who had drifted to sleep minutes after the train had taken off, he was snoring lightly and his cheek was squished up against the window and that only made him look even more precious in Alfie’s eyes. It had been a few days since Alfie had seen him so he could only assume there had been something going on at his work, no wonder he was so tired. He worked as a care giver for someone’s mother, he helped her get ready for bed and stayed there for a few hours in case she woke up or needed help with something so he was used to the late nights. Even without his job he was just a night owl, he far preferred the night and the subtle comfort it brought, not to everyone but definitely for him.

Half an hour past of silence and Alfie quickly noticed that Spencer’s stop was coming up any minute, he quickly put his phone down and looked to Spencer who was still asleep. He had no idea how he was supposed to wake him up but he knew he had to, the most appropriate way seemed to be to lean over and gently shake his shoulder until he began to stir.

“Hey..wake up…sleeping beauty, you in there?” The words came out before he could stop them, it hadn’t been his intention to call Spencer that but he had been thinking about how lovely he looked while asleep so his brain just decided to fuck him over. Of course Spencer woke up at the first shake to his shoulder and heard all of what Alfie had said, it took him a few seconds to work out first who was talking and second who they were talking to. When he realised he couldn’t stop himself from starting to blush, pulling himself away from the window once Alfie moved back into his own seat.

“Thanks…” Spencer said bashfully, noticing how embarrassed Alfie looked at the encounter too. He repeated the words said to him a few times in his head to make sure he had heard them correctly, the cute stranger he’d been eying up for months now did just essentially call him a beauty and maybe it was because he was still so tired but he didn’t have his usual attempt of a filter. “Sleeping beauty’s actually a pretty gruesome story, the princess is raped by the king and has two children all while asleep.” He said after a minute or two of silence.

Anyone else would have found Spencer a total weirdo after that unusual fact but Alfie was oddly charmed by it, at least it wasn’t some outburst about how inappropriate his words were; he’d take his favourite childhood story being ruined any day over that. He just chuckled and shook his head, Spencer breathing a sigh of relief at the fact the stranger wasn’t completely horrified by what could only be described as his attempts at flirting.

“Aren’t most original fairy tales really gruesome?” Alfie asked and Spencer nodded his head almost immediately, eager just to be making small talk with him. Plus this was something he knew a lot about so maybe he could try and use that to his advantage, only he would try and pick someone up using gruesome fairy tales but it was worth a shot. This was the first time they’d ever engaged in a conversation and for all he knew it be their last time, he could risk coming across as a little odd.

“The majority are. I could tell you about them sometime, maybe over coffee?” The train paused at Spencer’s stop and he knew he didn’t have much time before it started off again but he wanted to hear Alfie’s answer first. It was weirdest date offer he’d ever gotten in his life but that only made Alfie like it even more, there were only so many normal coffee dates a guy could go on before it was boring, so far Spencer was anything but boring.

“Okay, I’d like that.” Spencer was so thrilled that he was actually going on date with this guy that he took far too long in gathering his things and the train doors slid closed once more and took off, he had lunged for the door to try and stop it closing but it was too late. If it had been any other day they he might have been annoyed but nothing could tear down his mood after this.

He turned his head to look at Alfie who was now sniggering to himself, looking up at Spencer with the most adorable scrunched nosed smile he’d ever seen. If he had been alone then he would have been bothered but how could he be even the slightest bit angry when he had someone this lovely in front of him? With a sigh and a smile Spencer turned round and sat back where he was, picking his coffee up and taking a sip of the chocolatey liquid before seating it back down beside him and turning his attention back to Alfie.

“I suppose learning your name would be a good place to start?” Spencer asked, his stomach filling with butterflies that he would finally be able to start referring to this stranger as something other than just “stranger” or “cute boy” in his head. It also solidified things, no longer being strangers but instead something more.

“Sleeping beauty, you can know whatever you want.” Alfie was never this flirtatious usually but it got Spencer to smile and his cheeks to flush with colour so he pushed aside his nerves to do so. His stop was another half an hour away so there was plenty of time to get to know each other after being too scared to do so for months now.

They didn’t know it at the time but the story of how they met would become a favourite to tell their friends, Alfie would coo about how adorable Spencer looked when he was asleep and how all he wanted in that moment was to marvel at how beautiful he was. Spencer on the other hand would recall the conversation that followed and how even though they had only talked for a short amount of time, he knew that Alfie was special and was worth all those months awkwardly admiring from a foot or two away.


End file.
